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Crowding the corridors of power: corporate lobbyists outnumber NGOs and unions in the European Parliament by 60%

January 30th, 2017

by Vicky Cann

One way to assess the relative lobby power of the corporate sector versus the civil society sector (aside from spending levels) is to look at the numbers of lobbyists each sector deploys.

Parliament passes

In order to get a permanent access pass for the European Parliament, lobbyists have to be a member of the EU transparency register. The pass is popular as it enables lobbyists to walk about the Parliament without invitation, approach MEPs and their assistants in corridors or bars, and to knock on their office doors.

There are also some surprising entries in this list. The Turkish organisation Uluslararası Türk İşadamları Derneği joined the register in October 2016 but has already secured 12 EP passes. As a new entrant it is not yet required to declare a lobby spend. It describes itself as an International Turkish Contractors Association (translation) implying that it might better fit within the trade association category, rather than as an NGO. Similarly, the European Milk Board might also be best described as a trade association rather than a trade union.

Top NGOs and unions holding EP passes

Organisation

Lobbying costs

EP passes

Lobbyists (FTE)

Bureau Europeen des Unions de Consommteurs

1750000 - 1999999

30

19.5

Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband

900000 - 999999

22

35

Transport and Environment

3500000 - 3749000

20

19.25

EUROCITIES

4750000 - 4999999

16

30

World Youth Alliance Europe

100000 - 199999

14

2.75

WWF European Policy Programme

2000000 - 2249999

13

21.75

Transparency International

1000000 - 1249999

13

16.25

Climate Action Network Europe

800000 - 899999

13

15.75

European Youth Forum

2750000 - 2999999

12

28.5

Open Society European Policy Institute

2250000 - 2499999

12

19.75

Uluslararası Türk İşadamları Derneği (UTIAD)

new registrant

12

9

ONE

400000 - 499999

12

6.25

European Transport Workers' Federation

400000 - 499999

12

5

European University Association

2500000 - 2749000

11

38.5

Greenpeace European Unit

952627

11

7.25

ClientEarth

200000 - 299999

11

3

European Milk Board

200000 - 299999

11

2.75

There are no figures available to show which organisations use their passes the most and therefore carry out the most in-person lobbying within the European Parliament. But the number of passes held by organisations in the register is a good barometer of which sectors have the most lobby influence because (unlike all other information in the EU lobby register which is self-declared and therefore subject to under- or over-estimating) data on EP passes is directly drawn from the Parliament’s own database and so is factual. Registered organisations can apply for as many passes as they wish; there is no upper limit, although there may be daily limits imposed on the number of lobbyists from one organisation in the EP at the same time.

But of course the number of EP passholders is not an accurate indicator of total lobbyist numbers active in Brussels, only of how many EP lobby passes have been issued. Many other lobbyists are active in Brussels, including around the Commission, but without holding an access pass. Therefore, EP passes do not reflect total lobbyist numbers.

Self-declared lobbyist numbers

The other information in the lobby register about lobbyist numbers is a self-declared figure for the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) lobbyists. For companies and trade associations that have EP passes (1118 organisations), the self-declared number of full-time equivalent (FTE) lobbyists is substantially higher, at 3300, than for trade unions and NGOs with EP passes whose total is 2467 (for 666 organisations). Once again, civil society lobbyists are outnumbered by those representing corporate interests, in this case by 34 per cent. Clearly the higher number of corporate lobbyists reflects the greater overall number of corporate organisations which are lobbying the EU.

The trouble with these self-declared figures is that they can be subject to under- or over-estimations. For example, a number of civil society organisations clearly over-declare their FTE lobbyist numbers, leading to inflated overall numbers for this sector. Does the European Elite Athletes Association really have only one EP passholder but 100 full-time lobbyists? Probably unlikely. Ditto, does the Cyprus Neuroscience & Technology Institute only have one EP passholder but deploy 27.5 full-time lobbyists? There are many other examples of likely over-estimated lobbyists numbers, especially by civil society organisations. This implies that the imbalance between lobbyists deployed by the corporate and the civil society sectors may be even greater than the above percentages portray.

Even greater imbalance?

Furthermore, there are some organisations which have wrongly declared themselves to be NGOs or trade unions, such as the International Swaps and Derivatives Association whose members include Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, and HSBC. ISDA is actually a lobby trade association for the financial industry, not a trade union!

And what about lobby consultancy firms which overwhelmingly represent for-profit interests? The table below shows which organisations on the register hold the most EP passes overall, and lobby consultancy firms (lobby guns for hire) dominate with 10 out of the 15 organisations listed. The only not-for-profits on this list are BEUC and T&E. Lobby consultancies with EP passes number 214 organisations in the lobby register, yet hold as many as 924 EP passes in total.

Organisations holding the most EP passes

Organisation

Lobbying costs

EP passes

Lobbyists (FTE)

Fleishman-Hillard

6250000 - 6499999

53

26.5

FTI Consulting Belgium

1750000 - 1999999

38

35

Burson-Marsteller

5000000 - 5249999

32

35

Bureau Europeen des Unions de Consommateurs

1750000 - 1999999

30

19.5

Kreab

3750000 - 3999999

27

30

FIPRA International Limited

1250000 - 1499999

26

27.25

European Chemical Industry Council

10220000

25

44.25

G Plus Ltd

2750000 - 2999999

24

19

APCO Worldwide

2500000 - 2749000

22

6.75

Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband

900000 - 999999

22

35

BUSINESSEUROPE

4000000 - 4249999

21

30

cabinet DN consulting sprl

3750000 - 3999999

21

30

Brunswick Group LLP

1750000 - 1999999

21

12.25

Interel European Affairs

4750000 - 4999999

20

25.5

Transport and Environment

3500000 - 3749000

20

19.25

Conclusion

The private sector has more organisations lobbying the EU, spends more on lobbying, and deploys more lobbyists than NGOs and trade unions. In the Parliament, the analysis of the number of lobbyists shows that the corporate sector has 60 per cent more than that of civil society. If you factor in lobby consultancies, the imbalance becomes even more stark.

All LobbyFacts data correct as of 25 January 2017.

All LobbyFacts data calculated using a filter to exclude all organisations without EP passes, in order to try to eliminate the worst examples of over-declarations of lobbyist numbers.

In the above, corporate sector = companies and trade associations.

The civil society sector = NGOs and trade unions.

Law firms, think-tanks, religious bodies, regional bodies and others were not allocated a category.

Monitoring lobby data is more important than ever to expose the extent of corporate influence over EU decision making. The relaunch of popular database Lobbyfacts.eu provides vital new tools for this, including a facility for tracking the lobby spending over several years.
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